Billy Lengthy out as IRS commissioner after simply 2 months on the job

Washington — Billy Lengthy, the commissioner of the IRS, is leaving his submit after simply two months on the job.

President Trump will nominate Lengthy to function ambassador to Iceland, the outgoing IRS commissioner stated in a assertion confirming the information, which was first reported by The New York Instances.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will lead the IRS quickly, a White Home official informed CBS Information.

“I’m thrilled to reply his name to service and deeply dedicated to advancing his daring agenda,” Lengthy stated in his assertion. “Thrilling occasions forward!”

In his final mass e-mail to the IRS’s workforce on Thursday, Lengthy informed company workers they may go away 70 minutes early on Friday, two staffers informed CBS Information. He is provided early dismissals on the finish of the week on a number of events, one worker stated.

“It is Virtually FriYay,” the e-mail’s topic line learn, in keeping with the staffers.

Lengthy was confirmed by the Senate in mid-June and took over the IRS after some tumult for the tax assortment company’s management. The IRS has had a number of interim commissioners since Mr. Trump’s return to workplace in January, together with one who lasted for simply 48 hours. The Trump administration has aimed to dramatically trim the company’s workforce.

A former auctioneer and Missouri Republican congressman, Lengthy was chosen to take over the IRS late final yr after beforehand pushing to repeal a lot of the tax code throughout his time within the Home. Lengthy is not an accountant by commerce, however Mr. Trump touted his time as a tax adviser. After retiring from Congress in 2023, Lengthy suggested companies on the Worker Retention Tax Credit score, drawing criticism from Democrats who famous the credit score’s excessive charge of fraud.

The IRS has been a spotlight of the Trump administration’s government-wide employees cuts. The company drew up plans earlier this yr to chop its 102,000-person workforce by as a lot as 40% by means of a mixture of layoffs and voluntary resignations, in keeping with an inner memo obtained by CBS Information in April. The cuts had been set to start after April 15, which is the deadline for many People to file their taxes.

As of Might, some 25,000 staffers had left the IRS, a 25% lower from February ranges, in keeping with a report by the IRS’s inner watchdog, the Treasury Inspector Normal for Tax Administration. Round 26% of the IRS’s income brokers — the employees who conduct audits — had left the company by Might, the report discovered.

In the meantime, employees from the Division of Authorities Effectivity — a cost-cutting workforce as soon as led by billionaire Elon Musk — sought entry to the IRS’s tax information system, sparking a lawsuit.

Former IRS appearing head Melanie Krause left the company in April over a plan to share tax information with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to assist determine undocumented immigrants. She was changed by Gary Shapley, a longtime IRS agent who turned well-known for talking about alleged political affect within the Hunter Biden tax investigation. However Shapley was ousted after simply two days following a dispute between Musk and Bessent.

Bessent complained to Mr. Trump that Shapley had been put in on the urging of Musk and sought the president’s approval to undo the choice, a number of sources informed CBS Information on the time.